via GQ: Kennedys & boats

GQ thought it was only appropriate to compile a slideshow of the Kennedys on various boats in honor of the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. I couldn't agree more.

Check out all the sailing and yachting from Italy to Hyannisport here.

{international blog crush} Lovely Pepa

So this morning I was cruising around my dashboard on Tumblr, looking at the requisite pictures of airy interiors and the Olsen twins, when I scrolled past a pretty brunette in a floral dress, with a chubby French Bulldog on a bright green leash. I was immediately smitten with her look, her hair and her adorable dog. To find the origin of this photo, I had to click back through about 12 or so reblogs to find the source: a sweet, bilingual personal style blog called Lovely Pepa. I believe Alexandra and her dog Pepa are Spanish, which explains the Spanish and English text, her European flair for dress and gorgeous photo locations.

I mean, right?

She makes me want to grow my bangs out, like, now. And get a dog.

Digging that starfish cuff pretty seriously.

Give me a break! That is an amazing blouse and literally the cutest dog I have ever seen.

(Besides my own, of course.)

What really gets me about this blog too is that Alexandra wears very minimal make up, doesn't always wear sunglasses, and is incredibly smile-y. We all fall victim to the serious face sometimes, but it's great to see a girl getting dressed up, taking her dog for a walk, and seeming so genuinely happy about it all. Girlfriend also has more pairs of Ray Ban sunglasses than I've ever seen on one blog, which is also a treat (and I'm totally jealous).

Take a break for yourself today and browse through Lovely Pepa's inspiring style and really photogenic canine pal.

{must watch} Garance Dore - Pardon My French

I was lucky enough to have my parents finally come visit me out here this past weekend. It was a trip almost two years coming - and I can't express how excited I was to show them around my New York and see them for the first time since Christmas.

We had a great weekend - a perfect balance of their uptown, upscale Manhattan of past visits, and my downtown day-to-day life. All the things we did piece together like a pretty great guide to wining and dining with a dash of culture and shopping from Soho to the Upper East Side:


{We dined.}

• Gotham Grill: White table clothes, amazing seafood and a very 90s New York vibe, like Gramercy Tavern and totally delicious (the seafood salad is unreal)
• The Modern: minimalist, fancy and contemporary - just like the museum (amazing duck confit)
• db Bistro Moderne: fancy and delicious
  
• The Standard Grill: great spot for an early breakfast al fresco
  
• Public: trendy, brunch-y, delicious lentil salad and great drinks
• La Piscine: on the roof of Hotel Americano; lots of delicious fried seafood with a side of DJ
  
• Brasserie Julienne: cute little french joint on 2nd Ave in the 80s, live jazz with your moules frites
  
• Morandi: loud, busy and seriously great Italian fare on Waverly and 7th Ave
  

{We drank.}

• La Piscine: Before dinner every night we had cocktails on the roof with an amazing view of the city
  
• Kingswood: After dinner at db, I brought my parents to meet up with friends and see one of my favorite West Village bars
  
• Public: a dirty martini for Mom, a bourbon iced tea for me and the Bloody Maria for Dad
  

{We saw.}

• The MoMA:the Cindy Sherman exhibit was cool and creepy, but the permanent exhibits are always refreshing and unmissable
  
• The East River Ferry: A fun and unique way to get between Manhattan and Brooklyn - especially on a warm day; we took it to and from 34th street to the flea market 
• Brooklyn Flea (Williamsburg): people watching, antique-ing and artisianal everything - of course
  
• The Met: My favorite museum in Manhattan, and the Steins Collection and Shiaparelli and Prada exhibit were crowded but truly wonderful (unfortunately the Cloud City exhibit on the roof was closed for weather)

{We shopped.}

• Uniqlo @ 53rd & 5th: picked up 4 shirts for my dad, but the crazy atmosphere and sheer amount of clothes is a little too much
  
• Treasure & Bond: cool, well-curated jewelry, gifts and apparel on lower West Broadway in Soho
  
• MoMA Design Store: so many unique and useful knick-knacks, and perfectly sized art prints for $10

{tgif} some diversions for the day...

I was lucky enough to have my parents finally come visit me out here this past weekend. It was a trip almost two years coming - and I can't express how excited I was to show them around my New York and see them for the first time since Christmas.

We had a great weekend - a perfect balance of their uptown, upscale Manhattan of past visits, and my downtown day-to-day life. All the things we did piece together like a pretty great guide to wining and dining with a dash of culture and shopping from Soho to the Upper East Side:


{We dined.}

• Gotham Grill: White table clothes, amazing seafood and a very 90s New York vibe, like Gramercy Tavern and totally delicious (the seafood salad is unreal)
• The Modern: minimalist, fancy and contemporary - just like the museum (amazing duck confit)
• db Bistro Moderne: fancy and delicious
  
• The Standard Grill: great spot for an early breakfast al fresco
  
• Public: trendy, brunch-y, delicious lentil salad and great drinks
• La Piscine: on the roof of Hotel Americano; lots of delicious fried seafood with a side of DJ
  
• Brasserie Julienne: cute little french joint on 2nd Ave in the 80s, live jazz with your moules frites
  
• Morandi: loud, busy and seriously great Italian fare on Waverly and 7th Ave
  

{We drank.}

• La Piscine: Before dinner every night we had cocktails on the roof with an amazing view of the city
  
• Kingswood: After dinner at db, I brought my parents to meet up with friends and see one of my favorite West Village bars
  
• Public: a dirty martini for Mom, a bourbon iced tea for me and the Bloody Maria for Dad
  

{We saw.}

• The MoMA:the Cindy Sherman exhibit was cool and creepy, but the permanent exhibits are always refreshing and unmissable
  
• The East River Ferry: A fun and unique way to get between Manhattan and Brooklyn - especially on a warm day; we took it to and from 34th street to the flea market 
• Brooklyn Flea (Williamsburg): people watching, antique-ing and artisianal everything - of course
  
• The Met: My favorite museum in Manhattan, and the Steins Collection and Shiaparelli and Prada exhibit were crowded but truly wonderful (unfortunately the Cloud City exhibit on the roof was closed for weather)

{We shopped.}

• Uniqlo @ 53rd & 5th: picked up 4 shirts for my dad, but the crazy atmosphere and sheer amount of clothes is a little too much
  
• Treasure & Bond: cool, well-curated jewelry, gifts and apparel on lower West Broadway in Soho
  
• MoMA Design Store: so many unique and useful knick-knacks, and perfectly sized art prints for $10

via NY Times: snacks of the great scribblers

Friends, Google Reader has changed my life. Meghan has been singing it's praises forever, but as internet-y as I am, I'm often rather skeptical and slow when it comes to adding yet another thing to keep up with to my daily browsings. Well apparently Google Reader wants to change all that, while also furthering my reliance on Google-related things. Oh well. Anyway, because of this magical new tab in my browser, I found this great piece from the New York Times. Check out the original article here, but just look below for the best part:

via Becca: Frenando Volken Togni poster...

So Becca was once a co-worker of Tully, and that makes her a friend of mine. Have we ever met? No. Does that matter in this day-and-age? Clearly not. (If you don't have "internet friends" you're really missing out.) Anyway, being the talented & creative person that she is, she has a really great blog, too. A recent browse revealed a series of "24 Hours In..." posters by artist Fernando Volken Togni. It's probably no surprise that my favorites were New York City and Paris. Check out his site (linked above) to see more of his colorful illustrations.

Via Thought Catalog: Screw New York!

This post from Thought Catalog just made me laugh out loud multiple times in a very populated Starbucks. It's so true it hurts a little.

Screw New York!

I could add a couple things:

Screw New York for getting me to a place where I feel pretty indifferent about the mouse that lives under my stove.

Screw New York for rendering me most likely incapable of ever wanting to do my own laundry, let alone anyone else's, ever again.

Screw New York for having so many incredibly ambitious and talented people living on one island that I'm simultaneously impressed and annoyed with almost everyone I meet.

Screw New York for convincing me that Central Park might be all the nature I really need in my life to survive here for many years without going insane.

Any of you readers out there have any great love/hate New York emotions?

Vent! It feels good, I promise.

blog crush: Atlantic - Pacific

When you're late, you're just late. Many thanks to Sonia of In Pursuit of Style for reminding me to look up Atlantic - Pacific. I am a newly converted lover of this simple, chic and totally inspiring personal style blog. She has great taste and an aspirational-meets-obtainable mix of high and low style.

I dare you to check out Atlantic - Pacific, and not accidentally fritter away half your work day ogling her outfits.

wouldn't it be nice....

some mid-day hot links...

Here's what I'm creeping around on today...

Mr. Porter, the men's counterpart to Net-a-Porter, went live today. It's fantastic.

Stylecaster has chosen it's 50 Most Stylish New Yorkers for 2011. (PS - one is my former boss @ ELLE!)

I previiously posted about The Coveted, but in case you missed it, they are now called The Coveteur.

My new favorite street style blog is STREETFSN.

This is an interesting article about the "shopper in chief" to Michelle Obama.

a love story i can get behind...

New York magazine's Spring Fashion 2011 issue has a cute/well-timed/interesting article about the only kind of online dating of which I'm really a fan.

The Street is Their Oyster

it's unclear how I missed this...

 

Here's the January cover of GQ, featuring Ryan Gosling's sparkling, soul-penetrating, ridiculously handsome eyes.

For more of those eyes and some really great menswear, click here.

{blog discovery} Taylor-Made...

 

Ahhh, the shoes!

Check out this mostly fashion blog by photographer Phill Taylor;  Taylor-Made.

{worth a read} an excellent essay on life in NYC...

First of all, let me say something: What a lackluster blizzard! The falling snow was beautiful last night as it accumulated outside The Oak Bar at The Plaza (photos to come), but I imagined that after I fell asleep, a wild storm would ensue, bringing a foot of snow to my downtown doorstep. Well, it did bring quite a bit of the whtie stuff, but only about six inches. In other words, here I am at work, my rubber boots dirty and wet from navigating the slush being pushed around the streets of Time Square.

Anyway, that is not at all what this post is about. Thanks to one of my favorite Twitter accounts, @EverythingNYC, I found a wonderful essay about living in New York City as a young person, written just a few weeks ago. Nearly every sentence had me laughing or reflecting back on the last few months thinking, "Wow, that's exactly right!" I recommend this short read to anyone living in the city, thinking about moving here, or just hankering for a witty look at life here (other than mine). Enjoy!

How to Live in New York City - by Ryan O'Connell